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Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza
Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza is a Conan novel by Roland J. Green, first published by Tor Books in January, 1997. Plot Synopsis Conan flees Ophir, and in the Aquilonian city of Shamar he joins the Thanza Rangers, a group raised to attack raiders in the Thanza region of the Border Range. Up in the mountains, bandit chieftain Lysinka joins her band of men to those of Baron Grolin, the self-titled Lord of Thanza, so they can seek for a chest that flew off when Lynsinka tried to steal it from a caravan. According to Grolin, it contains the Soul of Thanza, which grants lordship over death. Unknown to the others, a mysterious semi-invisible wizard helps guide Grolin to the Soul of Thanza. The ragtag Thanza Rangers, nominally lead by boyish Captain Klarnides but actually headed by master-at-arms Tharmis Rog and Conan, move into the mountains to attacks the raiders. After Grolin abandons Lysinka during a fight with the Rangers, Lysinka surrenders to Conan and agrees to help apprehend Grolin. Together, they and the Rangers set out to find the Soul of Thanza before Grolin can use it to turn himself into the indestructible Death Lord. Conan find unexpected help from an army of the dead, and he will need all the aid he can against the horrors of the Mountain of the Skull and the awesome might of the Death Lord. Detailed Summary Prologue A heavily armed caravan descends through the Pass of Oteron in the Border Range into Aquilonia. They are unaware that they are being observed by the bandit Lysinka and her men. Her archers fire their volley and her men rush to take advantage of the surprise attack. Unfortunately, their prize, a chest locked with iron bands, releases a blinding light and thunderclap before rising into the air and flying away. Lysinka's band pursues. One On the southern, Ophirean side of the Tybor river, Conan contemplates crossing into Aquilonia. He is avoiding a bounty placed on his head by King Moranthes, but needs a boat. He stalks along the river bank and eventually spies a pair of men with a boat who, upon seeing a large ship sailing on the waters, are signalling others downriver - Nemedian pirates. He easily overpowers them and takes their boat, briefly contemplating whether to warn off the ship or confront the pirates himself. He chooses to sail towards the other pirates, who don't realize Conan isn't on their team until it's too late. He swiftly dispatches the pirates on one canoe, and dives into the waters as a volley of arrows from another canoe descends. Under night's cover he swims underwater to another canoe and topples it, then climbs aboard a third to fight hand to hand. The pirates are no match for Conan, and he jumps back into the water to avoid another round of missiles. Meanwhile, the original targeted ship, given enough warning from the sounds of melee, attempts to speed up to plow through the area, but Conan notices one band of pirates has managed to sneak their canoe near the side of the ship. Conan swims swiftly to the ship and climbs aboard, confronted by a sailor who is immediately picked off by an arrow as the grappling hooks of the pirates hurdle over the edge. Conan calls the sailors to the decks as the first pirates board, and Conan is soon engaged in combat. Conan and his allies rebuff the attack, and the grateful owner of the ship, Levites, invites Conan to stay in the best cabin for the remainder of the journey to Shamar. Two The two day voyage finds Conan slightly wary of traveling with a Messentian who is loyal to Argos, where Conan also has a bounty, but as the city of Shamar appears on the horizon, Conan, given a generous reward by Levites, relaxes and disembarks. He walks through the city, notices with some amusement a recruitment poster promising treasure and pardons that he knows is nothing more than a plea to draw desperate men into looting villages along the border region, but before he can walk away, he spies a couple of familiar faces - men who are looking for Conan. He tries to casually turn and walk away, but is chased. He evades the first couple of bounty hunters, then vanishes into an alley and climbs to the roof. He begins to think that looting the country-side and the promise of a pardon a very attractive offer. He spends the morning on the town's roofs, then makes his way to the Golden Lion in, crashing through a window and startling a servant girl. The bounty hunters, suspecting this might be Conan's destination, rush into the inn to stop him from joining the recruits, but Conan beats one senseless and holds him as a shield until he makes his way to the recruitment table and volunteers, claiming his name is Sellus, to Tharmis Rog, Master-at-Arms of the Rangers. At that moment, Levites returns, revealing himself to be the source of the information that Conan was in town, and the attack is renewed. Conan dispatches several, with the occasional assistance of a bemused Tharmis Rog, who eventually ends the brawl and demands answers from Levites and "Sellus." The tension is broken by the arrival of the youthful but surprisingly commanding Captain Klarnides, who, after hearing their stories, dismisses Levites and the bounty hunter Mikros, and swears Conan into the ranks of the Rangers, although Conan is required to turn over all his money. Conan is angry, but complies, already planning on how he will desert the Rangers. Three Fergis awakens Lysinka on the morning of the tenth day of marching after the flying chest. Although some in the band begin to question the wisdom of the action, they still pack up and move in haste when a heavy rain begins to fall. Hundreds of miles away, Tharmis Rog begins to train his mustered army with limited success, partially due to his lack of leadership skills and the men questioning Klarnides's notable absence. Conan fares well, but the tension between him and Rog is palpable, and during an exercise in which a boulder accidentally rolls down a hill and nearly flattens Rog, he and Conan quietly agree to settle their differences in private later that night, so as not to agitate the men. Meanwhile, Lyskinka's band creeps through a murky forest and comes across a lone, hooded man standing in the path, who greets Lysinka by name and reveals he has a piece of iron casing from the chest she chases. He also pursues the chest, and suggest they work together. He invites Lyskina and her men to his camp, and though suspicious, she agrees. Four That evening, Conan rests in preparation for his confrontation with Tharmis Rog, and Lysinka leads ten of her men up a treacherous mountainside pass, losing one over the cliff side via a powerful breeze the Thanzans call the Spider Wind. Lysinka and her men are soon entertained by the hooded man, Baron Grolin, who proposes aligning his magic with her steel in finding the chest, which has been recalled to the Mountain of Skulls and contains something called the Soul of Thanza, which grants its possessor power over death. Lysinka withdraws to discuss with her men, who vote to join Grolin. Back in the forest, Conan heads to his encounter with Rog, but instead finds himself stalking a band of men sent by Mikros. He secretly dispatches one of them, and, upon seeing a waiting Rog in the grove, shouts a warning. A groggy Rog eventually shakes the sleep off and assists Conan in fighting off the bandits. The two men call a truce and retreat to discuss the events. At a nearby tavern, Rog tells Conan that Klarnides has brought two inexperienced captains into the band, which infuriates the master-at-arms. Conan vows to assist Rog in creating the finest army with the dregs they have been given. Five After ten days, Klarnides and one of his newly-minted yet inexperienced captains, Nestorinus, take 100 Rangers upriver on their first campaign. Conan wonders why their patron, Count Ralthon, who supplies the Rangers with abundant supplies and rations, would spend far more than necessary and to what ultimate end, but Rog refuses to speculate. During the week-long march through the Border Range, the camp is besieged by mule-thieving bandits, and the men get their first taste of battle. Characters * Conan * Lysinka of Mertyos, bandit chieftain * Levites of Messentia, owner of the ship Sidris * Mikros, Aqulinoian thief-taker * Tharmis Rog, Master-of-Arms of the Thanza Rangers * Captain Klarnides, Leader of the Thanza Rangers * Fergis, bandit * Baron Grolin, self titled lord of Thanza * Nestorinus, captain in the Thanza Rangers Locations * Thanza region of the Border Range between Aquilonia and Nemedia * The Tybor river * Shamar, Aquilonian city * Ophir * Mountain of the Skull Publication history * (novel) • Roland J. Green • Tor January 1997 References Category:Conan book Category:Conan story Category:Conan novel